Cycle Polo

I was walking with two minds

Whether to take left direction

Or just to maintain the trajectory

Walking past the bus stop

I heard chants from some kids

Brother, please retrieve that ball

I looked across the road

I found it in the middle of the road

I went and threw that ball back to the ground

I decided to go to the ground to sit for a while

I sat on the stand beneath that old tree

It’s an old dream hangout for me

I used to play and used to watch lot of games

Football and cricket

But it was a haven for budding cycle polo players

Over the years, I’ve seen many kids

Learning to roll the ball using their sticks

Riding their bicycles

This same ground has been a university

For many players who donned state and national colors

It staged many cycle polo tournaments in past

It’s an inspiration for many aspiring kids

I saw different groups of kids

Practicing cycle polo

Trying out their tricks to show off

At the middle, a group was competitive

They chased down the ball

Riding the cycle faster

Made some intriguing passes

Scored some goals

Saw some girls just passing the ball around

But it’s the young kids whom I watched

I saw the eagerness to learn

Trying to be balanced on the cycle

To move faster to pass and chase the ball

Two of them just missed a collision by a whisker

They acknowledged and kept on playing

I wondered when most of new generation kids

Aspire to play cricket, football, or some other sports

Which will yield them money or fame

The passion for cycle polo is still there

At least in this place

It’s not an easy game though

None of them fell once

They were always steady and

 Avoided each other’s path

Even when they were trying to block or tackle

Keeping a safe distance and speed

It still amazes me, how they manage to control

The cycles just like that right from childhood

One thing is sure

The future is bright

 Cycle polo will survive

Even though there are no glitz and glamour

Nor any big sponsorships to ponder

It’s just the passion that keeps these players going

Electric-“shock”-Bill

Every day as I sit to work

Thinking deeply about what to write

And searching for the content

My UPS starts crying

Shut the PC and let me rest

Yeah, the power has gone

May be

The power cables fought as usual

With roadside tree branches

Or may be

Someone from electricity board

Pulled up the main fuse in our area

Power Minister talks about his achievements with pride

But, he can’t do much to generate more power

Nor reduce the transmission loss

Come rainy season

We have to endure dark nights

Under the shade of candles or emergency lamps

Come summer season

Minister will talk about shortage of water in dams

And reduction of power sharing from other states

There are no official power cuts

But when the sun showers his fury on us

With the thermometers reading higher centigrade

We are destined to use hand-powered fans

To keep ourselves cool

Or we have to take refuge in liquids

But even chilling the liquids becomes impossible

As they play with us keeping our power away

Yet when we get our electricity bill

We find unusual taxes

Unusual sur-charges

Sometimes

They force us to pay double the principal amount

Yeah this is monopoly

Pay it on time whatever amount on bill

Or get your connection taken away

If we call for emergency repair

They say we will come

May be hours or days later

But they will be at home to disconnect

The power cable right on the day

After the bill date

They are sharp at least in this duty

I wonder

Where does all consumer protection groups

Goes hiding

When the power board squeezes money

Out of common people

As we have no other cheaper alternative

To fall back on

We keep paying what’s on the bill

We never get good service for what we pay

There are no provisions for us

To demand reduction in payment

For getting sub-standard service and untold power cuts

They can hike price whenever they want

And if you ask someone about it

They will tell till go to complaint section

Or meet some other officials

I know nothing can be done

And I walk as usual back to home

To play with my power buddy

Shutting on and shutting off my pc

Every other hour

While pursuing my quest to complete the work

With a wait for another “electric-shock-bill.” 

Live

This is a storm before

The rain of joy

Your silence will tame

When the smiles burst

Your Tears will dry before

The sun shines

You may be walking

Through summers of past

And Living through

Colours of lost dreams

And Swimming through

The lake of hope

To snatch back all that

Flew past your heart

You gotta fly away from your past

Towards a new destiny

You gotta dream something new

That’s so exciting

You gotta fight for a new dawn in life

To show your courage

As there are some people

Who consider you as a sour loser

Writing you off as a failure

They find joy in mocking and teasing you

But you can leave them speechless

As you walk past them

With the wand of glories

That they could never even dream

Stick to your likes

Build your life around it

You will see your life blooming

With the joy you never experience before

There is a reason for every life

Search for your reason

You will find it

Live

Lonely Stranger

I was returning home

With lot of thoughts in mind

As I walked past the temple

I casually looked at an old abandoned building

Expecting no surprises

As it remained closed for years

Even before, I moved to this locality

Once it was a home to sports and arts club

Now just a reminder of the past

I noticed a voice from inside

I slowed down to see who it is

I looked through the opened windows

I saw a strange old man with long grey beard

Sitting on the floor

With an apple in his hand

He was immersed in his own world

Talking to himself in some strange language

Or rather singing

I wondered who that stranger is

I’ve never seen him before in my locality

I think he may have lost his way

And chose to rest in that unoccupied building

As it has been raining for many days

As I walked past the building

I kept thinking about that old man

I wondered where he did come from!

May be bit curious about the story

Behind a lonely stranger

Even then, he was talking loudly

As if there are many people sitting beside him

Twitterland

There used to be one exotic place on earth

Switzerland, the queen of Alps

Draped over with fluffy snow

And wooed by the naughty chilly winds

Always enticed the honeymoon couples

Or those who wished to ski down the curves

Of a marvelous beauty

Or for the greedy rich men who looked for

A safe haven to hide their riches

But this is a new virtual haven

For those who want to be free

For those who want to express their views

For those who want to know what others think

Those who build a tent in twitter land

 Mingle with the strangers across the world

Sharing their thoughts on countless topics

Sharing jokes and news and whatever possible

Even the constraints of 140 words doesn’t stop anyone

Some people live a parallel life in twitter land

Tweeting everything, they do live

Some just follow the celebrities and other famous people

To read their insights and controversies they make

Some just immerse themselves in following countless people

Or making countless people follow them

It’s fun when every other thing in life is boring

A world to set fire without taking matchbox

Just tweet some words

The fire will just catch up in countless minds

Then it just sparks debates

Some just like re-tweeting what others say

It’s an info highway

Where countless active and lazy people

Spend their time to spread info and get info

With mobile twitter, tweet freaks are online from everywhere

This is an obsessive addiction

That keeps many lives transparent

This is a volatile wonderland

That can change the lives

With the 140 words they use

Some gained accolades

Some lost their image in public

After waging wars against rogue elements

Many lost their little empires of power

After chasing down enemies in public

There are many romances

There are many breakups

This is a quick route for many to show their discontent

Easily infuriating the bosses with mocking

And getting the pink slips to go for some other jobs

It’s a hangout for gangs of friends

To tell and ask anything and everything

It gives the sense that you are not alone

No matter where you are, someone is with you

Following you to know from you

Now it has become just a marketing media

For all ambitious businesses

Tweeting links towards anything on the web

They are just driving people towards products

Building traffic towards the websites

And reaping the countless dollars from thin air

But everyone love twitter land

As somebody is tweeting something right now

And someone is waiting there to read that and reply

This is going to last longer, until something better emerge